Former President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump blasted testimony from former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels as “garbage” amid his father’s unprecedented trial in Manhattan.
“Perspective: Sitting front row attempting to figure out how any of this garbage from 20 years ago relates to ‘legal’ bills submitted by a long time personal attorney being booked as a ‘legal’ expense — but I digress,” Eric Trump posted to his X account Tuesday.
Daniels took the stand Tuesday morning, where she went into detail about meeting Trump in 2006 during a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. The testimony included Daniels detailing allegedly sleeping with the then-real estate mogul. Trump has repeatedly denied any affair with Daniels.
Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case, which revolves around Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, paying Daniels $130,000 to allegedly quiet her claims of the alleged extramarital sexual encounter. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege that the Trump Organization reimbursed Cohen and fraudulently logged the payments as legal expenses. Prosecutors are working to prove that Trump falsified records with the intent to commit or conceal a second crime, which is a felony.
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 30: Eric Trump returns to court during former U.S. President Donald Trumps trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 30, 2024 in New York City. Former U.S. President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Photo by Curtis Means -Pool/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
Eric Trump continued on X that prosecutors do not care about the “merits of this case,” and are instead focusing on the “salacious show.”
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“To be clear, they don’t give a s**t about the merits of this case — the 15 Manhattan prosecutors are sitting at their table and behind in the courthouse pews, giddy by this salacious show. This is the intent, not the merits, nor the fact that this entire case is a massive extortion play,” he wrote.
The presiding judge in the case, Juan Merchan, told prosecutors earlier Tuesday that they were going into too much detail during their questioning of Daniels.
“The degree of detail we’re going into is unnecessary,” Merchan said.
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In addition to her testimony on the alleged encounter with Trump in 2006, Daniels described to the court how she got into the pornography business after working as an exotic dancer as a teenager.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump walks, as his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 continues, in New York City, U.S., May 7, 2024. (REUTERS/David Dee Delgado/Pool)
The testimony Tuesday comes fresh off the heels of Merchan warning Trump he could face jail time if he breaks a gag order that restricts him from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses and their potential participation or remarks about court staff, DA staff or family members of staff. Trump has railed against the order as “unconstitutional” and trampling on his free speech rights.
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Piers Morgan’s planned interview with Stormy Daniels is back on after the adult film star postponed it last week due to some security issues. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
The DA’s office argued that Trump violated the order more than a dozen times, with the judge ruling last week that Trump violated the order nine times, resulting in a combined $9,000 fine. Merchan fined the former president another $1,000 for an additional violation on Monday, arguing that it’s “clear” the $1,000 fines for each violation are not effective.
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Merchan added Monday said he would consider a jail sentence for Trump if he continues to violate the gag order.
“The last thing I want to consider is jail,” Merchan said. “You are [the] former president and possibly the next president.”
Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers, Thursday, March 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photos)
Trump said Monday afternoon that potential time in jail to protect the Constitution is a “sacrifice” he’s willing to make.
“I have to watch every word I tell you people. You ask me a question, a simple question I’d like to give it, but I can’t talk about it because this judge has given me a gag order and [says] you’ll go to jail if you violate it,” Trump said in remarks outside the Manhattan courtroom Monday afternoon.
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A court sketch depicts the third day of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Jury selection for the alleged hush money case remains ongoing after two seated jurors were dismissed earlier today. (Christine Cornell)
“And frankly, you know what? Our Constitution is much more important than jail. It’s not even close. I’ll do that sacrifice any day.”
Ahead of court kicking off on Tuesday, Trump again addressed the media, where he said news reports across a wide array of outlets have not shown a “smoking gun” in the trial and that prosecutors have “nothing.”
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“This all comes out of the White House and Crooked Joe Biden. This comes from the White House. And it’s all Biden because it’s an attack on his political opponent. That hasn’t happened in this country. It does happen in third world countries, but it hasn’t happened in this country. And it’s a shame. And the trial is a very unfair trial. It’s a very, very unfair trial. The good news is they have nothing,” he said.